This piece by Tom Sullivan at Hullabaloo pulls together some of the trends I've noted in the Republican party over the past thirty-plus years (specifically here, here, and here).
Of course, it would take a book -- maybe several -- to lay out the whole story. After all, we're dealing with an element of American society -- reactionary, xenophobic, misogynistic, racist -- that has been with us from the beginning. It's just that the right has weaponized it.
History operating the way it does -- as a series of reactions -- I'm confident that this, too, shall pass. We've had these episodes before and somehow survived them. But also, from an historical perspective, no empire lasts forever. Which leads me to wonder who's going to be left to pick through the rubble.
Update: This piece by Timothy Egan at NYT gives some good background:
I keep remembering the Texas Board of Education removing critical thinking skills from the school curriculum because it might teach children to question authority.
Think about that.
Via Bark Bark Woof Woof.
"This is what happens when party becomes almost a religion," MSNBC's Joy Reid told Chris Hayes last night on "All In." Reid was commenting on the GOP's defense of Alabama's Roy Moore and acceptance of a Republican president with a lengthy history of sexual misconduct. "We don't care how low he takes this country, how low he takes our party," she said, or "what a scoundrel he is, what a scam artist he is, what a con man. And literally, it can be a child molester as long as it's a Republican ... Nothing comes before party ever. Ever."
The Republican Party and the country didn't sink to these depths overnight. The right has, over decades, acculturated its base to lies as one of the basic food groups. Our sitting president is simply the main course.
Of course, it would take a book -- maybe several -- to lay out the whole story. After all, we're dealing with an element of American society -- reactionary, xenophobic, misogynistic, racist -- that has been with us from the beginning. It's just that the right has weaponized it.
History operating the way it does -- as a series of reactions -- I'm confident that this, too, shall pass. We've had these episodes before and somehow survived them. But also, from an historical perspective, no empire lasts forever. Which leads me to wonder who's going to be left to pick through the rubble.
Update: This piece by Timothy Egan at NYT gives some good background:
It would be much easier to sleep at night if you could believe that we’re in such a mess of misinformation simply because Russian agents disseminated inflammatory posts that reached 126 million people on Facebook.
The Russians also uploaded a thousand videos to YouTube and published more than 130,000 messages on Twitter about last year’s election. As recent congressional hearings showed, the arteries of our democracy were clogged with toxins from a hostile foreign power.
But the problem is not the Russians — it’s us. We’re getting played because too many Americans are ill equipped to perform the basic functions of citizenship. If the point of the Russian campaign, aided domestically by right-wing media, was to get people to think there is no such thing as knowable truth, the bad guys have won. . . .
Nearly one in three Americans cannot name a single branch of government. When NPR tweeted out sections of the Declaration of Independence last year, many people were outraged. They mistook Thomas Jefferson’s fighting words for anti-Trump propaganda.
I keep remembering the Texas Board of Education removing critical thinking skills from the school curriculum because it might teach children to question authority.
Think about that.
Via Bark Bark Woof Woof.
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